Justino Loyal, Paul Nelson, Cap Curtis and at far right George Sobal Concessionaire.
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Saturday, July 05, 2014
Another July Mishap! #3
Another July Mishap! #7
This was the wardrobe wagon, the cages were for privately owned dogs since no pets were allowed in the coaches.
The top most one was for my mother's little dog "Mickey" who managed to escape unscathed.
I had walked past this wagon many times since it was spotted right next to the performers dressing rooms in the end of the pad top.
This area was ruled by a crabby old lady named Mrs. Mack!
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Friday, July 04, 2014
Happy 4th Of July #1 (From Tim Tegge)
Hi Buckles, Barbara, and everyone…
Our
sincere best wishes for a safe and happy 4th of July!
Tim
& Barbara Tegge
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Happy 4th Of July!
As I was once gently reminded.....LISTEN UP YOU PEA-HEADS!.....INCLUDE AN EXTRA PAIR OF SOCKS TO KEEP YER FEET DRY!!!
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Thursday, July 03, 2014
From Elizabeth Dane
Buckles – Loved seeing your Blog with Queenie yesterday.
Please let Barbara know I still think of her mother quite
often! She was “Madam Ray” or “Mrs. Ray” to me. Never “Lottie” or “Lolly” as
my Dad used to call her.
Liz
"Mrs. Ray and her Seven Rays Of Sunshine.
Buckles
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Hartford Fire Books #1 (From Eric Beheim)
Most of you are aware
that July 6th is the 70th anniversary of the 1944 fire that destroyed the
Ringling-Barnum big top during a matinee performance in Hartford, Connecticut.
Over the years, several books have been written about the fire. Here are two that I have found to be
particularly interesting.
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Hartford Fire Books #2
The BEST overall history of the Hartford fire is
undoubtedly Stewart O’Nan’s THE CIRCUS FIRE, published in
2000. A critically-acclaimed novelist,
O’Nan first became interested in the Hartford fire when, while doing research
for a novel, he came across some photos of it in an old issue of
LIFE Magazine. Years
later, after moving to the Hartford area, he attempted to learn more about the
fire and discovered that no one had ever written an in-depth history of it. Initially, he began doing his own fire
research with the intention of turning over his notes and research material to a
professional non-fiction writer who would actually write the
book. Eventually however, he undertook
to write it himself. The result is an
intense, detailed narrative that recounts the events before, after, and
especially during the fire itself. Also
included are quite a few historical photos, as well as diagrams, drawings,
etc. If you want to know more about the
fire and its aftermath, this is the book to read. THE CIRCUS FIRE is also
available as an unabridged audio book read by Dick Hill. Both versions are HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED.
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Hartford Fire Books #3
Another good book on the Hartford fire is A MATTER
OF DEGREE (2001) by Don Massey and Rick Davey. In 1982, Davey, an arson investigator for the
Hartford Fire Department, undertook his own reexamination of the evidence
collected during the original fire investigation in 1944. (The 1944 investigation, which had been
conducted by the Connecticut State Police and NOT the Hartford
Fire Department, had concluded that the fire had been caused by someone flipping
away a lit cigarette which had somehow lodged in a fold of the big top’s
sidewall, setting it on fire.) After
studying the official police photos, the statements taken from witnesses, and
other evidence, Davey concluded that the fire had, in fact, been an act of
arson. (The book goes into some detail
as to why Davey -- an experienced and highly regarded arson investigator -- came
to that conclusion.)
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Hartford Fire Books #4
The person who most likely set the Hartford fire was
Robert Dale Segee, a 14-year-old runaway who had joined the show a week earlier
in Portland, Maine and who had worked on Whitey Versteeg’s light crew. (During the week Segee was with the show,
three other mysterious fires had occurred.)
In 1950, after being arrested for setting a string of fires in Ohio,
Segee also admitted to setting the circus fire.
Although Ohio investigators were initially skeptical of Segee’s claim,
further questioning revealed that he knew things about the fire that only the
arsonist would have known, such as the point of origin. Later, while being examined by a
psychologist, Segee not only admitted to setting the circus fire, but also to
committing multiple acts of arson and four murders while still a juvenile living
in Maine. A detective sent to Maine to
corroborate Segee’s revelations concluded that they had credence. As a result, Ohio authorities accepted
Segee’s confession of having set the Hartford fire as being the truth. Connecticut officials, on the other hand
rejected Segee’s confession and appear to have had a hand in coercing him into
later denying all that he had confessed to. (He was never formally charged for
the circus fire or for any of the crimes that took place in Maine.) For those
who are interested, A MATTER OF DEGREE does a good job of laying
out the evidence that came to light during the Segee investigation, allowing you
to draw your own conclusions.
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Hartford Fire Books #5
A MATTER OF DEGREE also
describes Rick Davey’s role in the effort to resolve the mystery of “Little Miss
1565,” the unidentified little girl killed in the fire who, for many years, was
known only by the number on her tombstone 1565. After carefully reviewing all the evidence,
Davey and a small team of investigators were successful in having the girl
officially accepted as being 8-year-old Eleanor Emily Cook. Although Stewart O’Nan disagrees with this
conclusion, Davey presents a strong argument for why “Little Miss 1565” is most
likely Eleanor Cook, addressing such questions as to why she wasn’t originally
identified by family members, why she appeared smaller than a typical
8-year-old, discrepancies regarding her facial features, teeth, etc. Once again, for those interested in this
mystery, this book lays out the evidence for you to draw your own
conclusions.
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Wednesday, July 02, 2014
More On "Queenie" #1
"Queenie" when Barbara's mother, Mrs. L.L. Ray (Mother Superior) first trained her at Bill Green's Animal Farm in Fairlee, Vermont about 1955.
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More On "Queenie" #2
Bill Green's daughter Elizabeth a few years later, a very nice lady who has contributed to the Blog over the years.
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More On "Queenie" #3
Received this message from Larry Louree:
"Is this the same Queenie that water skiied up near Deleon Springs?"
Yes it was, I always marveled at how people people were so impressed with this stunt.
I had 22 elephants on the Blue Show at one time, all potential water skiiers.
All you do is walk them down to the beach, chain them on a barge and wave bye, bye!
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More On "Queenie" #5
This is "Tulsa", "Wanda" and "Queenie" in Walt King's act.
Late in 1980 Walt called offering to give me "Tulsa" for free, I have told the story on the Blog about her charging out of the truck and us having to use "Anna May" as a shield to get her rounded up, Ben managed to reach under "Anna May's" belly and got a leg chain on her.
After law and order had been restored Walt managed sell the act to Gatti and engaged Tommy Donoho to be the Captain.
As they were leaving I warned Tommy to be careful and sure enough while watering at a truck stop "Tulsa" tore the door off the truck and there he sat.
Fortunately they were in the Dallas area and Bucky Steele and took her off his hands.
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Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Winter 1962-63 #1
 Josip Marcan's recent comment about Ponce De Leon, Florida brought to mind the occasion the winter of 1962-63 when Barbara and I drove down from Hugo to that city for a brief visit with her mother who was in charge of Bill Green's animals and appearing at a local park. It was on this occasion we learned she had just purchased 25 acres of land down around Tampa while visiting another daughter Hope and planned to settle there. She eventually built a home there on 5 acres and then sold 5 acres to Hope who did likewise, a third daughter Billie settled on 5 and I blissfully arise each morning on the remaining 5, just across the street. I might add that Billie's surviving husband Gordon Messer, with whom I chat at the mail box every afternoon, swears we are related since my father's real name was Messer, having been adopted by the Woodcock's of Hot Springs, Arkansas in infancy. |
Winter 1962-63 #2
The elephant is "Queenie" that Mrs. Ray trained when quite small, later owned by Walt King and so far as I know remains out in the golden west with Gatti-Charles.
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Winter 1962-63 #3
Mrs. Ray had trained this zebra to do a pick-out number which I thought was quite remarkable.
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Winter 1962-63 #5
On that trip we also stopped by Chet Juszyk's place up around Orlando and camped with them were Bert, Marie and Sandy Pettus with the former Ed Weidaman elephants "Zetta", "Peggy" and "Dorothy" then owned by Larry Higgins who for some reason had renamed them the "Downie Bros. Elephants".
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